


Signatures

by insieme



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec and Magnus are students, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, College Student Magnus Bane, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Shy Alec Lightwood, Strangers to Lovers, Student Alec Lightwood, but it's really cute ok, i don't even know what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 04:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11349900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insieme/pseuds/insieme
Summary: Alec was running through his options when he opened his eyes, trying to survey how much he had jotted down before he had drifted off to sleep. He sat up straight in his chair when he saw a full page of notes.His own chicken scratch was at the top of the page in black pen, maybe one or two lines written down. The rest of the page was filled with purple ink and beautiful cursive writing depicting what Alec assumed to be the rest of the lecture.Or Alec falls asleep in class and when he wakes up, someone has left a note for him





	Signatures

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Angels! This is just a short little fluffy piece I wrote earlier! It hasn't been beta'd, so beware of that.
> 
> Hope you like it! xx

Alec hastily poured coffee into his travel mug, not caring that half of it didn’t make it into the cup and instead splashed on the counter. 

“Shit, I’m so late.” He cursed, running around the apartment and throwing things into his bag at random. He had a lecture starting in five minutes and the commute to campus was closer to fifteen at best. 

Jace was passed out on the couch, snoring loudly despite the excessive noise Alec was making. He could probably sleep through anything, considering how drunk he had been last night. He rolled his eyes at his roommate, reminding himself to find a way to get back at him when he got back from class. 

Jace had decided that it would be a great idea to take Alec to the bar, the night before an early lecture. Alec had gone to please Jace, figuring he would just make an excuse and leave early, giving him enough time to get a good sleep and be up in the morning. But he really should have known better. Going out with Jace never ended up being just casual drinks and last night hadn’t been any different. Jace had convinced him to stay for “just one more drink” a few too many times and after enough drinks he hadn’t had to convince Alec to stay at all.

Alec didn’t remember much after he lost count of the drinks he had had. So, added to the fact that he was late to class, he also had a pounding headache and a hangover to end all hangovers. Jace was really going to pay for that one. 

Finally satisfied he had everything he needed, Alec rushed out the door. He may have slammed it closed a little louder than deemed necessary but his mood lifted a fraction when he heard a surprised shout from inside the apartment. He grinned all the way to the bus stop. 

The smile wiped off his face though as soon as he got onto the bus. The traffic towards the school was heavy, thick with commuter, and the bus he took every morning seemed to be even slower today. It seemed that at every stop, someone wanted to talk to the bus driver and delay his arrival that much longer. 

By the time he finally arrived on campus he was well over twenty minutes late for class and the satisfaction he had gotten from waking up Jace was long gone, leaving him with just his pounding headache. He would have to try and sneak quietly into the back of the lecture hall and pray that he hadn’t missed too much. His professor had been hinting that questions directly from the lecture would be on the next test and missing the lecture meant missing important information. Hopefully his professor had decided to do a long introduction today.

He found the building and ran down the halls, stopping outside the door that led into his classroom. He took a second to collect himself and catch his breath before opening the door. He was already going to have people staring at him for being late, he didn’t want to be a sweaty, panting mess on top of that. 

Slipping into the classroom, Alec scanned the rows for an empty seat. Usually he was early to class and always got a seat closer to the front but the first few rows of the room were completely full. He finally spotted a seat and sat down quickly, ducking his head when his classmates shot him looks of disscontempt. 

Usually with classes as large as the one he was in, he didn’t recognize many people from the weeks before, and every class seemed to bring people he had never seen before. But Alec actually found he recognized the man that was sitting beside him. Alec remembered seeing him the first week of class, his bright fashion making him stand out against the other students. 

That, and he was ridiculously good looking.

Pushing his attractive neighbour out of his mind, he pulled out a pen and his notepad, already listening to his professor and trying to remember what he was saying long enough that he could jot it down. This class wasn’t his favourite and he wasn’t really all that interested in it, but it was mandatory for his program which meant he needed to pass. Or, in his mother's eyes, he needed to _excel_. 

He focused on the lecture as best he could and tried to concentrate on what his professor was saying. It was hard to focus though when he kept losing interest, gaze flicking around the room to other students instead of on his professor. A few times he found his gaze traveling sideways, as casually as he could, to study the profile of the beautiful man sitting beside him. He was wearing makeup, but not too much, just enough to highlight his already attractive features. He also had on lots of earrings and rings, the colourful metal looking pretty against his tanned skin.

But Alec had to forcefully pull his attention back when he heard the professor mention the upcoming test. 

Even the test couldn’t hold his attention for too long though and soon enough Alec found his attention swaying again; this time though, his eyes drooping in fatigue. He (obviously) hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and in his commute he hadn’t realized just how tired he really was. But, now that he was sitting stationary for a prolonged amount of time, his night out was starting to catch up with him. 

He tried blinking his eyes and shaking his head to stay more awake, trying as hard as he might to stay present but it was useless and he drifted off into sleep, cheek pillowed on his hand. 

 

***

 

Alec woke up some time later to the sound of scraping chairs and chatter from the students around him. 

He whipped his head around to see his entire row was empty and students were closing their laptops, gathering their bags and chatting excitedly as they left the classroom. Alec’s stomach dropped heavily as he realized he had slept through the entire lecture. 

He was there, yet he had _still_ missed it. 

Dropping his head in his hands, Alec let out a deep sigh. He hoped that what had been discussed today wouldn’t be too much of the test, but seeing how his luck had been going that morning, it didn’t seem likely. He was going to have to find someone in the class to talk to and see if he could borrow their notes, or maybe email the TA and see if he could do a make-up lecture.

Alec was running through his options when he opened his eyes, trying to survey how much he had jotted down before he had drifted off to sleep. He sat up straight in his chair when he saw a full page of notes. 

His own chicken scratch was at the top of the page in black pen, maybe one or two lines written down. The rest of the page was filled with purple ink and beautiful cursive writing depicting what Alec assumed to be the rest of the lecture. 

He read through the notes quickly and saw that the mystery note-taker was thorough, writing down direct quotes from the professor as well as important information he had talked about. The notes in front of him were better than any notes he had ever taken in class. There were three full pages of them, double sided. He flipped through them, scanning their contents quickly. 

He got to the bottom the last page and his breath caught in his throat. Whoever had taken the notes had left a personal message for him. The cursive was neat, and the purple pen had glitter in it that made Alec smile. 

_You look really cute when you sleep_

Alec felt his face flush, but grinned as he read the message again. Someone had seen him sleeping and had written these notes specifically for him. 

And they thought he was cute. 

With a renewed sense of confidence, Alec carefully put the notes in his bag and made his way out of the classroom. He was determined to find out who had taken these notes for him, not only to thank them but to satisfy his curiosity and see who it was. 

 

***

 

Two weeks later, Alec was late for class again. 

This time, it had been Isabelle’s fault. Well, not really her fault. She had gone through a breakup with her girlfriend the night before and had come to Alec, distraught. He cared far too much about his sister to ever push her away in a time of need, even if he did need to be up early. So he had stayed up with her all night and held her when she cried and wiped her tears when she had finally fallen asleep on his shoulder. 

But, because of this he had slept through his first alarm and once again found himself running to class, late and on very little sleep. He hadn’t heard anything from the mystery note-taker since that fateful day two weeks ago and Alec had accepted it to be just a one time thing, a random act of kindness from a stranger. 

Who had thought he was cute when he slept. 

He quietly opened the door to the lecture hall and saw the same seat he had been sitting in the previous week was unoccupied. He also noted, with interest, that the same man he had been staring at last time was sitting in the chair beside it. 

Alec had no choice but to take the spot though, because there wasn’t another seat. 

He slid past a few people and settled into the seat, conscious of the man beside him. His black hair was spiked up today, and had a few strips of gold in it. Alec looked sideways quickly to see that he was wearing a black and gold button up shirt, but most of the buttons were undone, showing a large amount of his smooth chest. Smooth chest that was doing nothing to help his concentration - or lack thereof - in this class. 

Alec forced himself to pay attention to the lecture and not the man beside him, pulling out his notepad and pen. The lecture was especially boring today, and Alec quickly checked out. He thought about the man beside him. Alec had found him fascinating ever since he had first laid eyes on him. What was his name? His story? Would he be weirded out that Alec had been watching him all this time, or flattered?

The lecture was lost on him quickly and Alec once again found himself drifting off into a peaceful sleep. 

When he woke, looking around confused, he realized he had slept through yet another lecture. He groaned, annoyed. He really needed to start getting a real sleep before this class.

His mood was lifted however when he looked down to see his notebook filled with the same cursive handwriting that had become almost familiar to him, the amount of times he had read over the other notes. The writing was in glittery blue pen today, pages and pages filled with the beautiful script. 

Alec didn’t waste time reading the notes - he would do that later - instead, he flipped to the very last page. He grinned when he found another note. 

_We’ve got to stop meeting like this. Why don’t we meet for coffee instead, you clearly need some._

_P.s. Still cute when you sleep._

Following the note was a scribbled number, with a small heart beside it. 

Alec beamed, reading the note over and over. The mysterious stranger had returned _and_ they had asked him on a date. Alec quickly pulled out his phone and typed in the number to see if he already had it in his contacts, but he didn’t. He hadn’t been expecting it to be someone he knew but he figured he’d check anyway. 

He keyed the number into his contacts and closed his phone, spring in his step. 

 

***

 

The next week, Alec was refreshed and made sure to get to class early. He didn’t even hesitate before sitting down in the spot he had sat each time he was late, unpacking his stuff. Each time he had received notes, it had been in this spot. 

It was only a bonus that his very attractive classmate also sat in the seat beside his own every week. 

Alec rifled through his bag pulling out his textbook and notebook and looking for the pen he always kept. He didn’t find it at first and frowned, digging through the bag again to make sure he hadn’t just missed it. 

But a second search proved he had indeed forgotten the writing utensil at home. Cursing under his breath, Alec looked around for someone who looked vaguely familiar that he would be comfortable with asking for a pen. 

Just as he was looking, someone slid into the seat beside him. He turned his head to see who it was, and almost grinned when he saw who now occupied the seat beside him. The attractive neighbour was back, and gave Alec a flashing smile as he sat down and pulled his own things out. 

He looked great again today, with black jeans a maroon button up and matching makeup. He was wearing a few neaklaces around his neck which made it exceptionally hard for Alec to tear his eyes away from the amount of chest he was showing. 

Clearing his throat, Alec steeled himself and poked him on the shoulder lightly. The other man turned his head, and rose a delicate eyebrow, smirking. “Yes?”

Alec coughed. “Um, I don’t mean to be a bother but, uh could I - could I borrow a pen?” He internally rolled his eyes at his own nervousness. Pretty boys tended to have that effect on him. 

But the other man just nodded and smiled, opening up a pencil case on top of his desk. He rifled around for a moment before deciding on one and handing it over wordlessly. “Thank you.” Alec whispered, just as the professor walked into the room and started speaking. 

Alec opened his book and wrote the date - or at least that was his intention until he saw the first letter he had written with the borrowed pen. 

The ink was purple and glittery. 

Alec flicked his eyes sideways to see the man beside him already taking notes, blue glitter pen in hand. A brief look inside his pencil case showed many more, each in a different colour. 

He tried to tell himself that it could be a coincidence. A lot of people wrote with glitter pens, right? He tried to peek over at the notes themselves to see his handwriting, but couldn’t do so without looking incredibly creepy.

Alec had been meaning to call the note-taker but he had been nervous. He had never talked to this person before and what if they didn’t like him when he wasn’t well - when he wasn’t asleep? And if the mystery person was the man beside him, that just made things worse because maybe he thought Alec wasn’t interested?

Needless to say, he didn’t get much done during class that day and missed almost half the lecture, lost in his own thoughts. He looked down pitifully at his own notes, writing not looking half as nice in the purple pen as the cursive did. Not to mention the notes he had taken were very short and reading them over again proved they made very little sense. 

Suddenly Alec was hit with an idea. 

He turned to the seat beside him to return the pen but his neighbour had already gotten up and left. Panicking, Alec gathered his things and stood up, quickly scanning the crowd around the hall. He spotted black, spiked, maroon-striped hair near the door waiting to get out. 

Alec jumped over a few rows of chairs (as gracefully as one could) until he made it into the same aisle his neighbour was in. He pushed through the crowd of students, apologizing as he went, trying in vain to get to the man at the front. 

When he finally pushed through to the front they had made it to the hallway outside the classroom and students were wandering off in various directions. Alec felt his hope sinking in his chest. The crowd was much bigger out here and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find the other man in a group this size. 

Sighing in defeat, he started walking to the door of the building, pulling up his coat against the winter air. He still had the purple pen in his hand and placed it carefully in his pocket, zipping it up so he didn’t lose it. He could always return it next week. 

He was walking towards the bus stop, typing a message to Isabelle, letting her know that he was on his way home and would make lunch when he got there. He slid his phone into his pocket and looked up, stopping dead when he saw him. His beautiful neighbour from class - and maybe, the mystery note taker. He was leaning against the bus stop, talking with a shorter man who looked unimpressed at what his friend was saying. 

Alec grinned, plucking up the courage and walking over to the pair. He cleared his throat when he was close enough, swallowing down his nerves. “Um, hey.” He greeted, when they both looked up at him. 

His classmate smiled while his friend looked just as unimpressed as before. Neither of them said anything though. Alec continued on. “Um, I have your pen. Thank you for letting me borrow it.” He said, hastily pulling the object from his pocket and handing it over. 

“You’re very welcome.” The man said, smile growing wider. His eyes, Alec noticed, were a beautiful shade of goldish-green and crinkled at the corners when he smiled. 

“And,” Alec rubbed the back of his neck, flicking to the still unimpressed friend and then back to his classmate. “Well, I didn’t get much of the notes today. So I was wondering if I could maybe take a look at yours?” He paused. “Maybe over coffee or something?” 

The man’s friend rolled his eyes, muttering something in Spanish under his breath before bidding them both a brief farewell. 

Alec wasn’t really focusing on him though, for the smile he got in return from the beautiful man in front of him was breathtaking. His eyes lit up mischievously and he smirked. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Alec grinned. “Well, it is a little harder in person than, let’s say … over a note, for example.” 

The man laughed, bringing his hand to his chest in mock-offense. “I’ll have you know, asking a stranger out over a note is plenty hard, darling.” 

Alec held out his hand. “I’m Alec.” He said abruptly. The other man quirked an eyebrow but shook his hand. 

“Magnus.”

Alec shrugged, still holding onto his hand. “Now we’re not strangers anymore.” 

Magnus responded with a cheeky grin and a shake of his head. “I like you already, Alec.” 

He couldn’t stop smiling all the way to the coffee shop. And when they got there, if they got distracted and forgot to talk about the notes well, they had plenty of time to make up for it.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think?
> 
> Let me know on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/insiemes)


End file.
